He wobbled till 3:30 a.m. then I wobbled and crashed. This morning 7:00 a.m. I woke to find he had made it out of his carrier and was asleep on my chest! Thank you God, the Blessed One- for giving him back to me.

I found out that even after giving the clinic the skinny about his health issues, they used ketamine and rompon on him! My feline vet told me she has seen kittens die while coming out of rompon. 🙁 and that she would never use ketamine on cats, plus she would never use rompon on kittens with respiratory distress. 🙁 Damn-

Thank God for the vet down the road and her understanding of the situation and the reversal shot. Thanks too for Hailey and the warming fluids, the help with stimulation and the shoulder to cry on. Had I lost Charlie, I would have self-destructed. Thank you for the many cat lovers who prayed for this piece of orange sunshine to stay in the world. I am going on record to say I will never use a low-cost spay and neuter clinic for my kittens again.

The four boys were taken in this morning to get neutered. When I picked them up, I was told there had been no problems and all went well. I did not use my regular vet for the procedure because they had a full schedule of spays this month, I used another clinic. A mistake I will not repeat.

I peeked in at the kittens, they were all awake, but a big groggy. So off I went for home (about an hour away). When we got home, I took them upstairs, opened up the carriers, they all stepped out wobbling a bit with the exception of Charlie. He took one step outside the carrier and fell flat on the carpet. I scooped him up he was breathing shallow, his mouth was open and he was as limp as a ragdoll in my arms! I’ve been working with kittens being neutered a long time and never had this type of reaction. Then, he suddenly woke up, stretched his mouth in a huge yawn- grabbed the inside of his mouth with his front paws and made a retching noise. Then he crashed again. His ears were ice cold, his paws were cold. Scared he might be bleeding out, I checked his mouth and the pads of his feet. I saw happy pink color (thank God) not stark white. I tucked him under my shirt, grabbed the phone and called the place that neutered him to find out what they used to anesthetize him.

When I told them what he was doing, they wanted me to bring him back, but I knew the trip was to long for an emergency visit, so I called a local clinic. Two hours later, Charlie had been given a reversal shot, warming fluids and a lot of stimulation. He was now home, still wobbly and I wrapped him in a warming blanket and just held him for the longest time.

He is upstairs now, it is close to midnight and sleep isn’t on the menu tonight for me. He isn’t Charlie yet, and I just pray the drugs didn’t do permanent damage to him. I will never cut corners on spay and neuters again and use a low-cost clinic no matter what. I went in on another rescuer’s ticket in order to get the boys done who were trying to get panic and shimmer pregnant. I tried to get them into my regular clinic, but they were full up. Dammit, I should have waited. Time will tell if Charlie will be right again. I pray he is-

This afternoon I had a conversation with Brooke. I asked her if she just wanted me to give up on her. I told her that I have been with cats who are ready to go and she gives me no indication that she wants to give up on life. But sometimes, cats know more than vets do. I asked her if she was perhaps missing her family, or had lost a close feline friend? I told her she was safe here and she could stay as long as she wants. She crawled into my lap and purred and we had a petting fest. Then I offered her several different kinds of cat food (the same type she had been offered before) and she ate 9Lives Tuna and Egg!

I also started her on Albon/Flagyll/ and am continuing the Panacur as she has some really bad diarrhea. Tomorrow, I am going to get some cyptro from the vet to see if that might jump-start her appetite.

Baker, Trump, Charlie and Livingston go in tomorrow morning to get neutered. I also have a few families interested in Baker, Trump and Madison. That would be nice to get them into a home where they can have more attention than they can get here.

Brooke ended up eating on her own last night after the house was quiet. But this morning and this afternoon she was still refusing food. She looks so healthy! I mean come on, I’ve worked with hepatic lipidosis before and these cats are bone skinny. She doesn’t have the disease yet- and if I have anything to say about it, she won’t get it. She growls the entire time I feed her. But growls are something I am accustomed to. I just told her tonight- you are not going to die on my watch if I can prevent it.

She used the litter pan last as well. But nothing today. I can her the pureed half of can of AD mixed with lactulose and a bit of water. Thankfully, I am able to get a good price on AD and bought a case today. I hope I don’t need it all for her- but her refusal of food is puzzling to say the least.

I make sure to feed her in the middle of the floor, even when she retreats to her bed. Her bed is her secure place, and I don’t want her to think she isn’t safe there. Her beautiful bib gets so messy with the food, and I do my best to clean her off. Afterward, we have a lovely groom fest so she knows that I am not always going to annoy her. She loves the wire brush. Most cats hate it- but not her.

She is not cat friendly at all. At least not yet as several of the kittens snuck into her room tonight when I did. She turned into a hissing ball of fury until I ushered them back out. She certainly doesn’t need anymore stress.

Come on Brooke, get with the program.

Spent an exhausting two hours at the vet’s today with Brooke. I still haven’t been able to get her interested in food. Afraid that something might be wrong with her, I took her in this afternoon and she had a full work-up including x-rays. Although there is stool in her colon, she isn’t packed with it as a cat who has megacolon would be, so megacolon was ruled out. So was FIP, exposure to toxic chemicals, her throat is clear of obstructions, her esophagus is normal looking on the x-ray. Two things concerned the vet besides her not eating for two days- one is her anal glands are on the outside, which can happen when a cat hasn’t been able to poop for quite awhile. Her small intestinal wall is thicker than it should be, but that could have been caused by a roundworm invasion. She might have lymphoma- but the vet felt that this was a long-shot because she doesn’t appear sick. Her lungs and heart sound normal, she was easy-going throughout the entire exam and everyone just flipped over her. She is a beautiful cat.

I started force-feeding her tonight. She is to get at least 1/2 can of AD pureed daily if not more. She is not happy with being force fed and she growled the entire time I spent with her giving her the nourishment. She had a pain shot even though they weren’t entirely sure she was in pain. Tomorrow, I will give her subcu fluids, but for now, I think she has been through enough. She isn’t dehydrated, the subcu would be to help move the stool along.

They are baffled why she won’t eat. They tried many different kinds of food to tempt her but she would have none of it. So two-hundred dollars later- I am no closer to an answer, and I still have a cat with no interest in eating.

Dropped down to the 20’s here. This morning inside the grain bin, I found a mouse frozen. I put it by the heater (a vain attempt, I know) But with the amount of rodents my barn cats kill, I had hoped I could at least save this one. No go- it had gotten down into the bin and unable to get out, it lost the battle.

Racer ripped his lower eyelid. I am not sure how he managed to do this, unless it was just from rubbing his head along his stall wall. I put some antibiotic ointment on it. The swelling has gone down tremendously but now the eye shows some major discharge. The ointment is safe to use in the eyes for dogs and cats. It say anything about horses.

I am running out of hay already with this drop in temperature. Finding hay this time of year is a nightmare, but we finally found 800 pound bales! OUCH! Going to have to leave one bale in the trailer and pull from there. No way can we get the trailer back to the barn right now, we would sink clear to our hubcaps!

New arrival here. She has been here 24 hours and only picks at her food. She is a drop dead beautiful tortiseshell I am calling Brooke. Her hunger strike has me worried, that and her overly portly and very tight stomach. I started her on wormer today, and gave her some mineral oil. So far nothing is moving. She is very loving and friendly even after shoving meds down her throat, though she did growl at me a few times.

Mike saw the specialist today. He doesn’t believe that Mike has prostate cancer, but is re-ordering the bloodwork just to be sure. Thinks it all boils down to the diabetes. I get so angry at times. When Mike came home, Iwent out to the truck and found a stash of candy in the center compartment. I wasn’t spying on him. I was looking for a book I left in the truck The Cat Master. I didn’t say anything to him- after all, what is the point?

Not the Rainbow Bridge thankfully- but today, a major milestone occurred. Livingston (the kitty who was mauled by a feral dog) actually came into the room where our dog Kody was laying and walked near enough to sniff Kody’s nose then fled! But it put a smile on our faces because Livingston used to pee all over himself at the very sight of Kody. It gives me hope that soon this kitten can leave here and go to a home with another dog that is cat friendly and have a wonderful life.

All cats are getting back on track health-wise except for McKinley. Suspect that his dissapearance for several days ties into why he isn’t rebounding quicker. But, one thing is clear- sprayer or not, he will now be an inside only cat.

It snowed this morning and as huge flakes fell from the sky and drifted to the ground, the kitties lined up in the bay window to watch the show. Tentatively, paws touched the glass only to withdraw in surprise from contact with the cold. A few errant flakes landed on the outside sill and several kitty noses touched the glass in a vain attempt to smell the whiteness. The flakes quickly melted, because even though the panes of glass felt cold, the earth was still warm from the recent rain.

The snow didn’t last long, evaporating almost as soon as the flakes touched the ground, but the scene was beautiful and peaceful, a good diversion for kitties who once were so ill.

I had another encounter with The Pastry Man this morning as well. I delivered to him the sad news that his rottie had been hit on the road last night. Poor dog didn’t stand a chance. A dark dog on an unlit highway in the middle of a bad rainstorm. Pastry man went off on me, ranting and raving about things that could never possibly be- perhaps fueled by his intense sorrow at losing such a good friend. Still, when he threatened to shoot the messenger, I felt I needed to let the sherriff know. They are well aware of the man and knew before I even told them where he lived, they knew who he was. Apparently, he was in a horrible wreck many years ago and now remains the shell of a man he used to be, trapped within a mind bordering on paranoia. I feel sorry for him. It is never easy to lose a beloved pet, and he clearly loved that rottie.

Thankfully, the cats are recovering from this unknown virus invader. Today, most of them are laying content around the house and there have been no unpleasant surprises waiting for me. I did lose two families who were interested in adopting two of the kittens. I suppose the term “virus of unknown origin” had something to do with scaring them off, but I will not lie to potential adoptive families and adopt out sick kittens.

Today, I only have two cats that are actively ill. They are confined upstairs. All the others are running around like normal, eating and using the litter pans without any unusual problems. I will still be continuing the medications for at least two more days and I hope the worst is behind us now. It would be nice to blog about lighter things in the coming days than a group of sick kitties.